RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Researchers inoculated 17 healthy people with the flu virus and monitored their progress for five days.

Of the sample, nine became ill and the rest showed no symptoms at all.

Using technology usually employed in satellite imaging, they examined the genes in the subjects’ blood samples every eight hours.

Those who became sick developed an acute inflammation on certain genes 36 hours before the symptoms set in. This ‘genetic signature’ was most marked in those who were suffering the worst.

Meanwhile, those who remained fine were found to have activated a totally different genetic signature.

The scientists interpreted this signature as an ‘anti-stress response’ that showed their bodies were actively fighting off the virus. This discovery raises the possibility that experts could find a way to detect flu early, and take preventative action before the worst effects develop.

Professor Peter Openshaw, of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College, said: ‘This is very important science, really Star Trek stuff. It has very big implications for many infectious diseases, not only flu.

‘It could help with flu pandemics and even allow us to detect lethal infections such as the ebola virus at a very early stage.’

Dr Alfred Hero, the University of Michigan academic who led the research, said: ‘We looked at over 22,000 genes in 267 blood samples. No study of this magnitude has ever been done on human immune response.

‘We can start to tease out the biological conditions that might make one more resistant to getting sick.

‘We will be testing it on different strains of flu, and it may not just be flu, it may be the same for other viruses including the common cold.’

A think-tank yesterday called for the flu jab to be given to everyone over 50.

The International Longevity Centre said while Britain’s childhood immunisation programme was among the best in the world, adult immunisation had been neglected.

Share or comment on this article:

Prone to flu? Just blame it on your genes... scientists discover that some of us can resist the bug